Il6 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



make them pay. There is no question but what they make 

 them pay, and the idea seems to have been spread among them, 

 that while you can keep a few hens and make them pay, you 

 cannot increase the number, but I have proven to my own satis- 

 faction that there is no reason why if fifty hens will pay, with 

 proper care, many times fifty will not pay just as well in pro- 

 portion. If one colony pays fifty dollars, is there any reason 

 why you cannot spread these colonies over additional space, and 

 by taking the right kind of care, make the additional number 

 pay equally well in proportion? If we can make a hundred 

 hens pay a hundred dollars net, there is no reason in the world 

 why we cannot make one thousand hens pay one thousand dol- 

 lars. Yes, or five thousand hens pay five thousand dollars, pro- 

 vided we give them as good care and a balanced ration. 



Mr. Graham. Mr. Tillinghast, about how long have you 

 been keeping chickens ? 



Mr. Tillinghast. About twenty-five years. 



Mr. Graham. About how long have you been keeping 

 them on this colony plan? 



Mr. Tillinghast. Oh, roughly, perhaps eight or ten 

 years. 



Mr. Graham. I understand you have houses for your pul- 

 lets where you start them, and after you take the cockerels 

 away, you let them grow up gradually and run in with the 

 other hens in the house, is that so? 



Mr. Tillinghast, After we have disposed of the cocker- 

 els, we put the pullets where they eat with the hens from the 

 hopper, and they get their water in the same way, so that they 

 are no more care at all until they begin to lay. I have some 

 which we have not given any care since they were a third 

 grown. 



Mr. Graijam. I wanted to bring out that fact that the pul- 

 lets and hens were running together. 



Mr. Tillinghast. They are running together. The pul- 

 lets are marked so we can tell them. 



